Another piece of reverse culture shock

I just renewed my drivers licence - from my own home, on my own computer in under 10 minutes. I can hardly believe it. This is why:

The last time I renewed a licence it was my Japanese licence and it was a massive affair.

It involved me organising for my middle son to be picked up from kindy at 2.20 and taken care of, as I wasn't sure how much of a WHOLE DAY it would take me to do. It involved asking a bilingual Japanese friend to come with me to help smooth the way through the myriad of interactions required at the Japanese licensing centre (it rivals an international airport, believe me). It involved driving more than half an hour to the licensing centre and parking a long way from the centre. It involved sitting through an hour lecture about driving safety - in Japanese. Next time I'll have to sit through three hours of lecture, because I've a minor traffic infringement to my name.

But at least I'll know that whenever my Australian driver's license expires again, I'll be able to do it all from home!